Survival rates of injured at sites of major accidents, warfare, and natural disasters can be substantially increased by rapid therapeutic intervention. When the site of medical emergency is near a hospital, the injured can be transported by ambulances or other carriers to the hospital. However, when the medical emergency takes place at a site far from a hospital or when appropriate transportation is not available, the increased survival rates depend upon therapeutic capabilities that can be established at the site.
Knock-down hospital facilities that are transported in parts must be set up on site, and this wastes considerable time that is needed for providing emergency medical services. In contrast, self-contained mobile hospital units are capable of dispensing immediate medical care upon arrival at the site. One such hospital unit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,733 to Star. The unit is made from a cargo container that is reconstructed into a self-contained hospital for deployment by either aircraft or surface transports.
Mobile medical units have a limited treatment space that should be maintained in an aseptic condition. However, the sites of medical emergencies are sometimes contaminated with biological or chemical agents that can be transported into the treatment space on patients, medical personnel, and supplies. Although it would be possible to set up separate decontamination facilities on site with the mobile medical units, the additional facilities would greatly complicate and possibly delay deployment of the medical units.
Large amounts of medical supplies including medical gases are needed to sustain remote operation of the medical units. The supplies and gas tanks should be stored in locations that are separately accessible from inside and outside the medical units. Openings for retrieving and replenishing the supplies should be as large as possible so that adjacent supplies are not disturbed. However, covers or doors for closing the openings should be as small as possible to conserve interior wall space and to limit exposure of the supplies to exterior contaminants.